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Estate Agents

I’m intending to sell a house in the Dartford area soon. Just had 3 High Street agencies around today plus an online firm for valuations.What a minefield this is. Go online and pay less or stick with the traditional firms. And why don’t many agencies open on Sundays ?!

Recently 'sold' (well, in a chain of 4) our house. Started with the cheapest (Kings) who were bloody useless. One viewing in 8 months! After a month of this we went to joint agents with Wards. Totally different. Took professional photos (rather than on phone), actively phoned round and gots lots of viewings. Very impressed - although not the cheapest. I think you get what you pay for.

re online, I believe Purple Bricks you pay the fee whether the house sells or not.Also if two people are bidding for a property, and one is selling theirs via an online estate agent and the other via a traditional agent, the selling estate agent tends to push the sale towards the other traditional agent.

I work in marketing for a medium sized estate agent, we’re open on Sundays

All I would say is read the small print for any online agent you intend to use as most of them (including purple bricks) charge their fee even if they don’t sell your property. I know lots of people who haven’t been happy with their service as they essentially get their fee once you’ve instructed them and couldn’t give a toss whether it sells or not. Where a traditional estate agent gets their fee when they sell the property and also don’t charge if the property doesn’t sell. We also had a situation not too long ago where an online agent valued a property at 40k below the price we valued it at and we sold that property within a day!

Anthony Martin have a box in the East Stand. The guy that owns them is a friend of a friend (and a massive Charlton fan). May be worth asking for a day in the box at a future home game if he sells your house for you (and he gets the fee of course! )

M&M sold our house in Gravesend. What impressed me about them was their professionalism and their marketing to people outside of the area. They're cheaper than Wards, who we have used in the past. Got us a quick sale for the top of our valuation.

Recently 'sold' (well, in a chain of 4) our house. Started with the cheapest (Kings) who were bloody useless. One viewing in 8 months! After a month of this we went to joint agents with Wards. Totally different. Took professional photos (rather than on phone), actively phoned round and gots lots of viewings. Very impressed - although not the cheapest. I think you get what you pay for.

Bought my current place via Kings. I agree bloody crap. Would never deal with them again

M&M sold our house in Gravesend. What impressed me about them was their professionalism and their marketing to people outside of the area. They're cheaper than Wards, who we have used in the past. Got us a quick sale for the top of our valuation.

Recently 'sold' (well, in a chain of 4) our house. Started with the cheapest (Kings) who were bloody useless. One viewing in 8 months! After a month of this we went to joint agents with Wards. Totally different. Took professional photos (rather than on phone), actively phoned round and gots lots of viewings. Very impressed - although not the cheapest. I think you get what you pay for.

All properties are put on Rightmove or Zoopla now so the agents don’t really have to market the property though so not sure why you would suddenly get more viewings unless the photos were so bad.

Recently 'sold' (well, in a chain of 4) our house. Started with the cheapest (Kings) who were bloody useless. One viewing in 8 months! After a month of this we went to joint agents with Wards. Totally different. Took professional photos (rather than on phone), actively phoned round and gots lots of viewings. Very impressed - although not the cheapest. I think you get what you pay for.

All properties are put on Rightmove or Zoopla now so the agents don’t really have to market the property though so not sure why you would suddenly get more viewings unless the photos were so bad.

Not necessarily true. All properties aren’t just put on Rightmove or Zoopla, agents have to pay to have their properties on there. Some agents pay 7 figure sums annually depending on how many branches/properties they have.

Purple bricks have been in trouble with Advertising standards, Estate agents ombudsman & the FCA at least 3 times in the last 2 years. Will charge you a fee even if you don't sell & their spiel is not worth reading.

I would always go with a traditional Estate Agent & have sold through Your Move, Halifax and Robinson & Jackson in Dartford before. Some are better than others and as previous posters have said, use one that actually use a camera for the photos and on any literature show them in colour. I always advise to look at their sales particulars for other properties & see if this is how you would want YOUR property shown.

Best to do some research on 'rightmove', type in houses and price in your area, also on Zoopla for recent sales over the past 12 months, that gives you an idea of who has sold what in your area. Not sure I would go with an online, well not yet, but good to mention that to your prospective agent. I opt for a sole agency, then have a max contract for 10 weeks, give them notice at 6 weeks, or at least ask them to have a dual agency........ for the original commission.

The more experience or established agents will probably give you a price band. One of my sons is currently buying a house in Bexley village, the agents have been okay, and Hunters ( his agent) were he is in Gravesend have been exceptional, professional, and worked hard . ( there is always an exception!) Personally, I think the branches depend on the team working there at the time, as others have said people use the web, and your relationship with the team selling your house is important, try and be pleasant, even though some are a lower form of pond life) I got Robinson Jackson to match Anthony Martin's fee in Bexley village, when we sold 18 months ago, personally I think he liked to get it off Park estates books, and had some people wanting the type of house I had.

We're most of the way through selling a house. My other half wanted to go with Purple Bricks before they came around but wasn't that impressed. As it turned out they wanted us to put it on for a lot less than we got offered after the first viewing. She also didn't like the pictures they took which is something you really want to get right. We're happy enough to pay 1.25% given how smooth everything has been.